The nail-biting 11-inning contest where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate over 50 million watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
